How to serve Vacherin Mont D’or

Vacherin Mont-d’Or is the classic dessert cheese. On its own it can replace all other cheeses.

Served as a dessert, Vacherin can be accompanied by a great wine, either red or white. But the choice of wine is a very personal affair, influenced by private preferences and the wines commonly found in the area. We simply believe that the ideal wine to accompany a Vacherin Mont-d’Or should have a light, fresh taste to avoid masking the flavour of the cheese.

The Vacherin also makes an excellent meal and can be presented in three different ways:

– accompanied by fresh bread and a glass of white or red wine.

– served with jacket potatoes, perhaps adding a little pepper.

– baked in the oven.

Vacherin Mont d’Or hot from the oven. A delight:

1) Wrap a sleeve of aluminium foil around a Vacherin Mont-d’Or.

2) Prick the surface with a fork (as for a pie crust). Insert one or two cloves of garlic if you wish.

3) Pour a decilitre of dry white wine over the surface.

4) Pre-heat an oven to 200°C and bake for 25 minutes.

The “Vacherin Mont-d’Or au four” is ready. Serve by spooning it over potatoes, or try it with bread, like a fondue.

Advice on storing the cheese

Vacherin Mont-d’Or keeps relatively well if certain conditions are met. Ideally it should be stored in a cellar at 10°-12° C. with sufficiently high relative humidity. But the refrigerator cheese container is perfectly acceptable. However, since food dries out in the cold it is important to protect the cheese with plastic wrap or aluminium foil.

After being stored in the refrigerator it is essential to give the cheese time to reach room temperature, as with a good wine. Don’t forget that it comes in a wooden box, so it needs a certain time to release all its flavour and regain its creamy texture.

Vacherin accepts freezing very well and it can be served as a gastronomic surprise in summer: simply move it first into the refrigerator to defreeze slowly, then let it come up to room temperature. The whole cheese should then be eaten because prolonged storage tends to make its consistency too fluid.

THE ABOVE TEXT HAS BEEN SHAMELESSLY BORROWED FROM THE VACHERIN MONT D’OR WEBSITE WHICH HAS A HOST OF OTHER INTERESTING INFORMATION ABOUT THIS LOVELY CHEESE.